Harley-Davidson owner has no one to blame for damage, accident

No one can say exactly what caused a rider and his Harley-Davidson to crash on a highway near Merritt five years ago, but it wasn’t the mechanic in Kamloops.

Roy Garnet Cannon, 54, tried to sue Kamloops Harley-Davidson claiming, among other things, negligence when they repaired his 2000 Harley-Davidson Softail Deuce on Aug. 21, 2013. According to a court judgement, the machine was repaired five times within a year — including a blown engine for $8,600 — Kamloops Harley-Davidson was only the last to fix it.

In the year before the accident, Cannon got new tires in August 2012 and the following riding season it was one problem after another. He got it repaired at Kreater Custom Motorcycles that June, but by the time he set out for a yearly ride with a friend in August the real problems started. First the “engine blew up” outside Banff and he had to have it towed to Kreater in Kelowna. After paying $8,600, he set off again with his friend a day or two later.

He almost made it to Kamloops on Aug. 20, 2013 before the rear drive belt “was shredded and blown off and wrapped around the front sprocket” and had to be towed once again.

That’s what it was in for when the technician assessed the damage and also replaced the rear tire and brake pads.

Back on the road with his friend again the next morning, according to the decision, they were aware they had to take it slow because new motorcycle tires can be slippery. They got 59 kilometres down Highway 5A when Cannon crashed.

In his suit, he alleged, among other things, the rear axle was damaged and went unnoticed by the mechanic. He hired an expert who appeared to back up his claim, but another expert hired by the Harley-Davidson mechanic added with the evidence of the mechanic, left Justice Sheri Donegan no evidence the mechanic was liable for the accident.

She concluded the most likely explanation was the driver went too fast around a corner with a new tire and found in favour of the defendant.

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